Above ground pool project

[dlabrie]

djradz,Good question. When I ordered the pool it was to ship in 24-48 hours. It took 3 weeks to ship! The bill showed up on my charge card before I got the pool. The instructions were not very clear. I had some major headaches because of it. 2 typical examples: "See note #2." there was no note #2! "Use the 1/2 inch screws provided," they were all 3/4 inch.It called for 24- 4X8X16 cap blocks and 12-4X8X16 patio blocks. I bought them but I only needed 8 of each. The video that came with it was for a round pool, mine is oval. It was not much help, and actually contradicted the instructions in some cases.The company decided to take a vacation for 5 days over the 4th of July! There was no contacting them. I used to work in resorts and you didn't even consider taking time off during the busy season.They never answered my emails or faxes. However, on the phone they were always polite and somewhat helpful. They told me if I bought their chemical package ($200), I would have everything I needed for the season. I have probably spent $90 on other chemicals needed to get the pool set up. Thank goodness for the local AGWAY store! They offer free water testing and sell the chemicals you need.I ordered an Aquabug, an automatic pool bottom cleaner. I told them when ordering that I didn't think the hose would be long enough for this pool, but they assured me it would be. Well I just received the 2 extra hose sections needed a couple of days ago. The instructions are VERY explicit about not coiling the hoses. Guess how the 2 sections arrived? The hose for the vacuum is not long enough as well.I am still waiting for an answer/solution on a problem I had with the coping.It seems to me that this company, and this is a guess from my many phone calls to them, is a fellow working out of his house doing the drop ship thing. I always spoke either to Kyle or Sherry and at times could here kids in the background.Would I order from them again? No. Would I order from another online pool company? I don't know. I think I would want to get some referrals first.I am pretty much satisfied with the finished product but it was much more of a hassle than it should have been.

 

[djradz]

Thanks David for the honest assessment. I'm looking to buy a similar sized pool next spring and will probably give the competition a try instead. There's at least another half-dozen or more pool suppliers out there that have a web-site for ordering, so I think I'll compare them. Glad it all is finally coming together in your case.